Richmond Council and its external children’s services provider, Achieving for Children (AfC), have been strongly criticised by the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) for not effectively supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
The LGO cited three separate cases it had investigated, which saw children missing out on support and education, prompting it to order a full audit of all the children for whom AfC is responsible due to concerns of “systemic failure’’ between the council and AfC.
In one instance, a young person with SEND missed out on a year’s education at a private special school because the council failed to tell her parents that they had agreed to fund it. The young person proceeded to attend a school which was not suitable and this was detrimental to her educational attainment and wellbeing. The LGO described the error as having “catastrophic consequences for Ms Z (the young person) who was denied the chance of the education she deserved’’.
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